WILLIAMSBURG, Va. — Police said there were no weapons, injuries, or arrests involved in a "public disturbance" at Busch Gardens Williamsburg Saturday night, as hundreds of visitors exited the park during Howl-O-Scream's opening weekend.
The disturbance began around 10 p.m. as the park was closing and large crowds of people were making their way to the park’s entrance at the France turn-around area, according to Tayleb Brooks with the James City County Police Department (JCCPD).
A verbal argument broke out between two large groups — mostly young adults or people under age 18 — who were waiting to be picked up, Brooks said.
JCCPD and other local law enforcement who were already there as planned extra security for Howl-O-Scream immediately began dispersing the crowd. And additional local law enforcement were called in to help as the situation escalated.
Brooks said some park guests indicated someone in the crowd may have had a gun, which led to the crowd dispersing further. A second, brief dispute happened in the France parking lot but quickly subsided with the arrival of more law enforcement.
Shortly after that, Brooks said a group of young people believed to have been part of the initial fight began walking back toward the remaining crowd at the park entrance. In that group, police noticed a juvenile grabbing at his waistband in a way that suggested he might be armed.
Officers intervened, and after briefly complying with police commands to show his hands, the juvenile again made a motion toward his waistband, at which point the officers detained him. No weapon was found and the boy was released to his parents, Brooks said.
JCCPD said the crowd was fully dispersed by midnight, thanks to "the significant multi-jurisdictional response" from local law enforcement.